OpenIDC/cjose is a C library implementing the Javascript Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE). Prior to version 0.6.2.5, cjose's JWE decryption path for the AES Key Wrap key-management algorithms (`alg` = `A128KW`, `A192KW`, `A256KW`) does not validate the length of the attacker-supplied `encrypted_key` (JWE Encrypted Key) before unwrapping it into a fixed-size, heap-allocated Content Encryption Key (CEK) buffer. A remote, unauthenticated attacker who can submit a crafted JWE to an application that decrypts it with an AES-KW symmetric key can trigger an out-of-bounds heap write, corrupting the heap. This leads at minimum to a crash (denial of service) and, depending on the heap layout and allocator, may be leverageable for further memory-corruption impact. `cjose_jwe_import()` / `cjose_jwe_decrypt()` are pre-authentication entry points: they parse and process fully attacker-controlled input. Upgrade to cjose 0.6.2.5 to receive a patch. If upgrading is not immediately possible, reject the AES Key Wrap algorithms (`A128KW`/`A192KW`/`A256KW`) for untrusted JWEs at the application layer.

The remote Redhat Enterprise Linux 10 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the RHSA-2026:73129 advisory.

    CJose is C library implementing the Javascript Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE).

    Security Fix(es):

    * cjose: cjose: Heap buffer overflow in AES Key Wrap decryption leads to denial of service     (CVE-2026-53938)

    For more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, acknowledgments, and     other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote Redhat Enterprise Linux 9 host has a package installed that is affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the RHSA-2026:73018 advisory.

    CJose is C library implementing the Javascript Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE).

    Security Fix(es):

    * cjose: cjose: Heap buffer overflow in AES Key Wrap decryption leads to denial of service     (CVE-2026-53938)

    For more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, acknowledgments, and     other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote Redhat Enterprise Linux 9 host has a package installed that is affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the RHSA-2026:73017 advisory.

    CJose is C library implementing the Javascript Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE).

    Security Fix(es):

    * cjose: cjose: Heap buffer overflow in AES Key Wrap decryption leads to denial of service     (CVE-2026-53938)

    For more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, acknowledgments, and     other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote Redhat Enterprise Linux 9 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the RHSA-2026:73128 advisory.

    CJose is C library implementing the Javascript Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE).

    Security Fix(es):

    * cjose: cjose: Heap buffer overflow in AES Key Wrap decryption leads to denial of service     (CVE-2026-53938)

    For more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, acknowledgments, and     other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the ALAS2023-2026-3130 advisory.

    OpenIDC/cjose is a C library implementing the Javascript Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE). Prior to     version 0.6.2.5, cjose's JWE decryption path for the AES Key Wrap key-management algorithms (`alg` =     `A128KW`, `A192KW`, `A256KW`) does not validate the length of the attacker-supplied `encrypted_key` (JWE     Encrypted Key) before unwrapping it into a fixed-size, heap-allocated Content Encryption Key (CEK) buffer.
    A remote, unauthenticated attacker who can submit a crafted JWE to an application that decrypts it with an     AES-KW symmetric key can trigger an out-of-bounds heap write, corrupting the heap. This leads at minimum     to a crash (denial of service) and, depending on the heap layout and allocator, may be leverageable for     further memory-corruption impact. `cjose_jwe_import()` / `cjose_jwe_decrypt()` are pre-authentication     entry points: they parse and process fully attacker-controlled input. Upgrade to cjose 0.6.2.5 to receive     a patch. If upgrading is not immediately possible, reject the AES Key Wrap algorithms     (`A128KW`/`A192KW`/`A256KW`) for untrusted JWEs at the application layer. (CVE-2026-53938)

    OpenIDC/cjose is a C library implementing the Javascript Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE). In versions     0.6.1 through 0.6.2.5, when cjose encrypts a JWE using an AES-CBC-HMAC content-encryption algorithm     (`A128CBC-HS256`, `A192CBC-HS384`, or `A256CBC-HS512`) together with any key-management algorithm that     generates a fresh content-encryption key (CEK), the CEK is all zero bytes instead of being randomly     generated. The resulting JWE is therefore encrypted and authenticated under a fixed, publicly known key,     so anyone who obtains the JWE can recover the plaintext and forge or modify the content. This is fixed in     version 0.6.2.6 by `_cjose_jwe_set_cek_aes_cbc()` generating the CEK from `RAND_bytes`. A regression test     asserts that the `encrypted_key` differs across two encryptions for each AES-CBC-HMAC variant. Until     upgrading, for data encrypted with cjose, three options are available. Use an AES-GCM `enc` (`A128GCM` /     `A192GCM` / `A256GCM`) instead of an AES-CBC-HMAC `enc`,  use `alg=dir` with a caller-supplied CEK, or     avoid using cjose for JWE encryption with the affected algorithm pair. These are mitigations for new     ciphertexts only; data already encrypted under the zero key remains compromised and should be re-encrypted     (and any secrets it contained rotated). (CVE-2026-53939)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the tested product security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote openSUSE 16 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the openSUSE-SU-2026:21944-1 advisory.

    - CVE-2026-53938: missing encrypted_key length validation during AES Key Wrap decryption can cause heap-     based buffer       overflow (bsc#1279844).
    - CVE-2026-53939: zero-filled content-encryption key generation in AES-CBC-HMAC JWE encryption within     cjose can allow       unauthorized content modification (bsc#1279846).

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote SUSE Linux SLES15 / SLES_SAP15 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the SUSE-SU-2026:4253-1 advisory.

    - CVE-2026-53938: missing encrypted_key length validation during AES Key Wrap decryption can cause heap-     based buffer       overflow (bsc#1279844).
    - CVE-2026-53939: zero-filled content-encryption key generation in AES-CBC-HMAC JWE encryption within     cjose can allow       unauthorized content modification (bsc#1279846).

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote SUSE Linux SLES15 / SLES_SAP15 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the SUSE-SU-2026:4251-1 advisory.

    - CVE-2026-53938: missing encrypted_key length validation during AES Key Wrap decryption can cause heap-     based buffer       overflow (bsc#1279844).
    - CVE-2026-53939: zero-filled content-encryption key generation in AES-CBC-HMAC JWE encryption within     cjose can allow       unauthorized content modification (bsc#1279846).

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote SUSE Linux SLES12 / SLES_SAP12 host has a package installed that is affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the SUSE-SU-2026:4237-1 advisory.

    - CVE-2026-53938: missing encrypted_key length validation during AES Key Wrap decryption can cause heap-     based buffer       overflow (bsc#1279844).
    - CVE-2026-53939: zero-filled content-encryption key generation in AES-CBC-HMAC JWE encryption within     cjose can allow       unauthorized content modification (bsc#1279846).

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote Debian 13 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the dsa-6499 advisory.

    - -------------------------------------------------------------------------     Debian Security Advisory DSA-6499-1                   security@debian.org     https://www.debian.org/security/                     Salvatore Bonaccorso     September 15, 2026                    https://www.debian.org/security/faq
    - -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Package        : cjose     CVE ID         : CVE-2026-53938 CVE-2026-53939

    Two vulnerabilities were discovered in cjose, a C library implementing     the JOSE standard, which could result in denial of service, execution of     arbitrary code or plain text recovery in specific setups.

    For the stable distribution (trixie), these problems have been fixed in     version 0.6.2.3-1+deb13u1.

    We recommend that you upgrade your cjose packages.

    For the detailed security status of cjose please refer to its security     tracker page at:
    https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/cjose

    Further information about Debian Security Advisories, how to apply     these updates to your system and frequently asked questions can be     found at: https://www.debian.org/security/

    Mailing list: debian-security-announce@lists.debian.org

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Debian security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

  - OpenIDC/cjose is a C library implementing the Javascript Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE). Prior to     version 0.6.2.5, cjose's JWE decryption path for the AES Key Wrap key-management algorithms (`alg` =     `A128KW`, `A192KW`, `A256KW`) does not validate the length of the attacker-supplied `encrypted_key` (JWE     Encrypted Key) before unwrapping it into a fixed-size, heap-allocated Content Encryption Key (CEK) buffer.
    A remote, unauthenticated attacker who can submit a crafted JWE to an application that decrypts it with an     AES-KW symmetric key can trigger an out-of-bounds heap write, corrupting the heap. This leads at minimum     to a crash (denial of service) and, depending on the heap layout and allocator, may be leverageable for     further memory-corruption impact. `cjose_jwe_import()` / `cjose_jwe_decrypt()` are pre-authentication     entry points: they parse and process fully attacker-controlled input. Upgrade to cjose 0.6.2.5 to receive     a patch. If upgrading is not immediately possible, reject the AES Key Wrap algorithms     (`A128KW`/`A192KW`/`A256KW`) for untrusted JWEs at the application layer. (CVE-2026-53938)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Type	Severity
351151	RHEL 10 : cjose (RHSA-2026:73129)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	Local	high
351141	RHEL 9 : cjose (RHSA-2026:73018)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	Local	high
351140	RHEL 9 : cjose (RHSA-2026:73017)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	Local	high
351135	RHEL 9 : cjose (RHSA-2026:73128)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	Local	high
351025	Amazon Linux 2023 : cjose, cjose-devel (ALAS2023-2026-3130)	Nessus	Amazon Linux Local Security Checks	Local	critical
350762	openSUSE 16 Security Update : cjose (openSUSE-SU-2026:21944-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	Local	critical
347909	SUSE SLES15 Security Update : cjose (SUSE-SU-2026:4253-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	Local	critical
347897	SUSE SLES15 Security Update : cjose (SUSE-SU-2026:4251-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	Local	critical
347893	SUSE SLES12 Security Update : cjose (SUSE-SU-2026:4237-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	Local	critical
346044	Debian dsa-6499 : libcjose-dev - security update	Nessus	Debian Local Security Checks	Local	critical
344035	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-53938	Nessus	Misc.	Local	high

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2026-53938

high

Tenable Plugins

high

high

high

high

critical

critical

critical

critical

critical

critical

high